I've been keeping an eye out for a sweet looking, great flying warbird to add to my e-hangar, and when the E-Flite P-47 was announced, I was quite attracted to it. A fairly large offering and a beautiful finish with promise of being well powered and flying well was all it took. I was anxious to get building.

Wing

I was simply amazed at how much detail and construction are included in this offering. Guns were installed as were decals on the fuse. Even the carbon fiber spar was pre-installed. For the wing, I simply installed the landing gear with two screws each and installed two aileron servos. The wing is grooved for the wire to lay in. It also came with "covers" that covered up the wire channel and gear mounts, but I found them to weigh about one ounce, so I left them off as I really didn't have a problem seeing the leads.

Fuselage

After attaching the tailwheel to the fuse, I elected to install the working rudder option. It is simply cut from the fuse, then beveled for adequate throw. The elevator is slid into position and glued square to the fuse and parallel to the wings.

The P-47 is designed around a stick mount and even comes with an outrunner mount. The cowl I held on with a few small pieces of double sided tape. A person could set in a few small hardpoints and use screws if they wished. This is one complete offering that came with a prop and red spinner (if using stock brushed power option) and the outrunner came with this nice aluminum adapter.

Isn't it just a beauty! Again, I cannot strss how nice this ARF is. From the factory, there is some weathering added, detail rivets painted on the cowl, just many things that make this look really nice on the tarmack and in the air.

Completion

I placed the E-Flite P-47 on some newly installed asphalt and couldn't believe how nice it looked. I could not do as good a job if I had to start from white foam, and this is one attractive addition to my hangar.

Flying

Basics

As a warbird, the E-Flite P-47 can run the gamut of scale maneuvers. Rolls and large loops are no problem. The dual aileron servos give a crisper feel to the rolls as compared to a single servo/torque rod setup. Opting for the working rudder added stall turns and allowed for some nice slow rolls.

Taking Off and Landing

With a little adjustment of the gear, I got a nice rollout from a hard surface, and the added rudder control helped direct it down the runway. It took off in a a very little space, but required a bit more room to land. I found it liked to come in a little hot; when I tried to glide it in the drag could easily catch up with her and drop faster than expected. The plane can be built without gear and bombs and I suspect a slower glide could be established.

Hand launching with the 450BL option was a breeze as there was ample power to pull it into immediate flight. Just a gentle, level toss is all that is required.

Aerobatics/Special Flight Performance

As a warbird, you wouldn't normally expect any other types of maneuvers, but I will say that with a little effort and the working rudder, a decent knife edge can be executed. But more importantly, this plane looks awesome in the air, come in for a bombing/strafing pass and it just looks great!

Is This For a Beginner?

This would make an excellent first warbird as it flies very stable. Any pilot who has graduated beyond basic flight and trainer style aircraft should be able to enjoy this offering.

Flight Video/Photo Gallery

Downloads

Conclusion

For less than $80, the E-Flite P-47 is perhaps the BEST warbird foamy available today. Excellent quality and detail, great warbird flight characteristics, dual aileron servos and the option of a working rudder make it flexible in it's flight envelope and varied power options make this a real winner. I can think of no downsides to this plane at all... it's just that good an offering.

I've seen a few people fly this plane and it does fly well. My opinion on the esthetics is the panel lines are way too big and overhighlighted. I think it makes it look a bit cartoonish and not as scale as the Alfa P-47.

I agree on the overdone panel lines but it is a great flying model even on the stock geared 480, even a nice quiet gearbox. I would rig a steerable tail wheel for scale like taxi-out and taxi back maneuvers.

On mine I filled the pannel lines and repainted the model. That said this model flys so good I have considered selling my Alfa P-47. The e-Flite model takes a better beating and it's size makes it easier for me to see.

Looking at the changes Parkzone makde to the upcomming FW-190 it "fixed" a lot of troubles the PZ P-51 had. I would expect E-Flite to listen to the masses and do the same on there next warbird.

Good Review. For $80 you just can't beat the performance of this P-47. Works will with the stock motor and even better with a Brushless. Stalls nicely for grass landings. I Hope E-flight will make other planes just like this one......

I love my E-Flite P-47. It's a "daily driver" for me, and it comes to the field with me as long as it's in good repair. My only real concerns are:
* Delicacy of the foam
* Structural weakness due to deep panel lines
* Difficulty removing the cowl without damaging it when taking it out of the box.
* Weak landing gear mounts. This appears to be a systemic problem with how this bird is glued at the factory, as the note in the box cautions about the weak motor mount and hinges.

I recently bought a new wing and elevator and glassed them before putting them on. This seems to make a huge difference in hangar rash and wing flex during pullouts. The plane flies really well even when it's really beaten up, but I like for my planes to look nice on fly-bys as well as fly nicely To their credit, the landing gear mounts don't feel like they are just going to fold when I give them a decent yank like a hard landing. I suspect E-Flite may have at least partially fixed the glue issues on this bird new.

I'm actually thinking of buying a second one and going with the elevator/aileron-only setup, no landing gear, and the stock brushed motor on 3S LiPo to see how it does. I enjoy the performance of the bird on the Park 450, but I've been watching videos of real P-47s in flight lately, and, well... my model is entirely too powerful and too fast!

Anyway...

My strongest recommendation for any new purchaser of this ARF is that it flies beautifully built exactly to plan, but it's not going to stay good-looking for long unless you find a way to cover/reinforce the weak spots in the foam:
* Tips and leading edges of wing and stabilizers
* The edges of the removable cockpit area. This gets a lot of handling for battery replacement, and the foam gets squished and scratched easily.
* The engine mount. This is going to get bunged out of alignment unless you pull and epoxy the mount stick.
* The hinges, if yours (like mine) didn't come fully glued.

It's a great flyer, and looks pretty good too. Maybe if I buy that second one, I'll feel better about trying the flaps, retracts, and smoker mods I've been considering...